Chelsea McGhee, 26, was more than twice the limit when police spotted her Fiat Panda being driven erratically near her home in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester
A mother-of-one who claimed her two bottles of WKD had been spiked at a family funeral has been banned from the road for drink driving.
Chelsea McGhee, 26, was more than twice the limit when police spotted her Fiat Panda being driven erratically near her home in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester.
But she tried to dodge a road ban by telling officers that the two small bottles of alcopop plus half a can of Coors lager she enjoyed had been laced with spirits.
However, she later dropped the claim, admitted drink-driving and was banned from the road 18 months at Manchester Magistrates’ Court.
Her lawyer claimed evidence could ‘no longer be supported’ and ‘something unusual’ had happened.
Unemployed McGhee was pulled over during the early hours of October 7 last year, the court heard.
Andrew Heyes said: ‘At 1.58am she was seen driving by the police who describe her as weaving in her lane and making very abrupt steering corrections to her driving.
‘When she spoke to officers she smelled heavily of intoxicants and was slurring and her eyes were very glazed. She admitted to officers at the roadside that she had consumed some alcohol. She was arrested and taken to the police station.’
Tests showed McGhee, who lives with her three-year-old son and her mother, had 74 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 mililitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
Giving evidence, the defendant told the hearing: ‘On the 6th October I was at a family funeral with my mum and I was driving. I didn’t have any alcohol in the day but we went to a pub in Denton afterwards.
‘I attended with my mother from 45 minutes to an hour and then took my mum home in the car and I went to pick up my other cousin Carla up from her house in Clayton. We went back to mine and arrived home must have been 6pm. It was just me and Carla.
McGhee tried to dodge a road ban by telling officers that the two small bottles of alcopop plus half a can of Coors lager she enjoyed had been laced with spirits
‘We were at mine for a while then went to McDonalds, went to her home, and then we back to mine and got back to Clayton about 9pm. We went back to mine at 9.30pm. My mum and Jade Dent my cousin were there.
‘I thought we were staying in from then that point so I thought it was okay to have a drink. I have two small blue WKDs and half a can of Coors lager. WKD is like an alcopop. They were the small ones not the large ones. It was only one of the small bottles. There were just loads of alcohol on the side.
‘I went to pick it up from the side. I just drank the lager out of the can. I drank it from the can itself. It was just on the side and had only half left so I just drank it. Jade was in my house. We all went downstairs to get a drink from the kitchen. I just drank WKD and the lager. There was only half of the can of lager left.’
Mitigating on McGhee’s behalf defence lawyer Mr Richard Birtwhistle said: ‘There are no relevant offences against the defendant. What I can say is that this was not deliberate in the sense that defendant at no point believed that she was incapable to drive the vehicle.
‘There had been a family funeral and she was returning her relative to her home in the early hours of the morning. It was a relatively short journey. She relies on income support. She had a three year old child and has no help from the biological father of the child.
‘She cares for her mother and uses her vehicle to transport her son to and from nursery. She cares for her mother who had Reynolds disease and suffers from anxiety and depression.
‘She has held her licence since the 15 March 2015 and uses her vehicle to be able to care for her mother and son.’
Passing sentence chairman of the bench Alan Greenwood said: ‘You came before us and we were expecting a special reasons hearing, but it has now turned into a sentence. We take into account your early guilty plea.’
McGhee was also fined £120 and was ordered to pay £180 in costs and surcharges.